Rob and I received our Rock and Roll end of the year medals for our two half marathons with their series in 2011, the Rock and Roll Chicago and Rock and Roll St. Louis. As badly organized as Rock and Roll Las Vegas sounded, I can say that both of these races were very nicely organized and correctly sized for the course.

I’m always a sucker for a medal or trophy. This one I opened in our pile of mail before work. I didn’t sport this one with my work attire for the whole day, but I was tempted. 😉

Friday I went with my girl Lisa to Running Central and One World Cafe, both in Peoria, IL. Lisa wanted to try out their gait analysis since she has very high arches and has been having issues with her feet off and on. Look at all that air under her arches, wow! Girl could smuggle diamonds under those arches if she wanted. 🙂 They gave her some model recommendations in Saucony, Mizuno and Newtons and Lisa is going to figure out her next move on purchasing once she is done with physical therapy.

I on the other had three gift cards burning a whole in my pocket so I was there to load up on Swiftwick socks for Rob and I. I love that local races have door prizes that include gift cards. It’s the icing on the cake to win a prize just for being at a race.

I got 4 pairs of zero ankle Swiftwicks (3 for Rob, 1 for me) AND 1 pair of calf compression for myself all for $17 after gift certificates, score!

When I got home from shopping I power napped and then got up and ready for a happy hour that included two spots. I’m not a big drinker so I just stuck to water and a little diet soda at the first location. The second spot I ended up with two super delish dirty martinis with stuffed blue cheese olives, but I also made sure to drink water.

We had appetizers as a group, but I clearly didn’t eat enough because those martinis left me worked over the next day. I was so unhappy with myself. Lately it seems that one drink is my limit and I’m going to have to stick to that if I don’t want to feel like total crapola the next day.

I wasted most of the morning feeling gross and rehydrating. By the afternoon I was able to get going so Rob and I could ring bells for the Salvation Army. It was freezing out the two hours we worked, but we toughed it out knowning that the money helps others who have to deal with being cold and hungry.

Afterward I got in my 9 Mile run and then we went out to Glenn Miller Orchestra. They put on a great show and include old holiday classics.

My attempts of trying to take our picture.

Afterward we went out for drinks with Chris and Lisa, but I stuck to water since I wasn’t fully recovered. Sunday we finally got to our holiday shopping and decorating, and fit in our long runs. It was nice to feel finally rested and back to normal.

Last Thursday after work Rob and I went to a Mat Kearney concert at a small venue near University of Illinois. Mat sounded amazing, even more so in person. It was a great concert, but Rob and I quickly noticed that we were the minority in the age category. A couple blurry pictures from my phone.

Over the weekend I made fish tacos with tilapia. I cooked the fish with a little olive oil, lime juice, paprika, chili power, onion powder, cumin and garlic salt for 15 minutes @ 425 degrees. After cooking I served it with corn tortillas, fresh salsa and guacamole.

I also made up my version of Spanish Rice in my new rice cooker. I used Trader Joe’s brown rice medley and cooked it to the rice cooker instructions. Then in a separate pot I warmed a can of diced tomatoes and black beans, both drained and added the same spices that I put on the fish. I’m going to take the left over rice mix and add mexican cheese, stuff red peppers and bake in the oven for another meal. 🙂

Monday was a rest day so Rob and I took the Cub out for a flight. It was a gorgeous day!

Like this:

So much to catch up on in the blog. I’m traveling for work which means missing Rob a ridiculous amount, running in gym hotel as often as possible, attending a conference, attending events, working online in between things, getting in some new restaurants and a bit of shopping.

So here are some of the highlights from this week.

I had some great classes at the conference.

It’s the whole point of the trip and I do have to say I learned some new things and feel energized to get back to my work efforts.

I got in workouts at the MGM Grand gym.

MGM Grand has a Cardio Room that is not a part of the SPA gym. It’s included in the hotel package that came with the conference reservation, so I didn’t have to spend any money each day to work out. I could have went out on the strip for some miles in the AM, but I didn’t have anyone to go with and I think it would have been only worth it to have someone to run with early AM before classes, so I stuck to the treadmill. Some days I was able to get in a run in the morning and evening. One challenge is Vegas gyms typically don’t open until 6am. And most close around 6pm-8pm. That makes it very challenging to get in workouts around other events like classes. It’s like people in Vegas hotels don’t want to workout early or late, I can’t see why not. 😉 Actually it caught me off guard because I was at least expecting the gyms to be available via hotel swipe 24/7, like most places in other cities. It seems like security cameras to keep an eye on things and a card swipe would make it handy for people to choose their hours to workout that fit their schedule.

Me and Jo after I got registered for the conference. The weather wasn’t good Sunday, but I had to work on a report anyways so I was stuck inside most of the afternoon anyways.

I rode the NY NY roller coaster.

After dinner with our friends Jo and Larry and their friend Dave, Jo and I took a ride on the NY NY roller coaster. It was a blast and you get a unique look at the strip and the Statue of Liberty from the coaster. I love that Jo is up for adventure anytime. Even when we were all dressed up she suggested we go.

We had a work event at Little Buddha which included some delish passed appetizers.

Afterward we went up to check out the amazing view from Ghostbar. It was perfect because it was a Monday night so there was really no one there but event people so it was super chill.

If you haven’t been to Ghostbar, definitely check it out. It’s a great view of the city.

I got caught up with people I haven’t seen at work in ages.

Our company is huge and that means that when you move on to other work assignments you can go a long time without seeing previous teammates. It was nice to get to have breakfast, lunch and dinners with co-workers and catch up on what they have been up to. Our friends Bob and Larry are into SCUBA diving. Rob and I have Advanced and Technical Certifications that we would need to get renewed, but we’ve dove in Jamaica and Turks and Caicos. Getting to hear about their trips all over the world make me itchy to get back out (into warm water dives of course).

One of our lunch meet ups was at Red, White and Blue at Mandalay Bay. I had the lobster cobb salad, with no bacon and no dressing.

We also ate at Wicked Spoon in the Cosmopolitan. I’m not a fan of buffets, but this one was so exceptional that it’s worth trying. The food is little bites of some amazing chef crafted dishes that I can’t do justice writing about. I got a couple pictures in the Cosmopolitan on the way to the restaurant.

Crystals drip down three floors, surrounding a bar and lounge area.

The famous large shoes. I got pictures in a couple on the floor of Wicked Spoon.

Rob and I have always wanted to see train in concert so this was a real treat!

Pat extended “She’s on Fire” with a country rendition for part of the song.

Then he asked for ladies to join him on stage to finish out the song. About 30-40 women got on stage. I was one of the first and Pat hands me a shirt and says “quick put this on”. Turns out it’s a t-shirt that says “trainette”. He says normally he is only allowed 7 women or so on stage, but he goes with it and has us all shout where we are from at the same time.

Then he has us all dance for a bit to the song, I stayed near the back, no need to shake my money maker up there. Then he had us sing the rest of the song. Pat moved around the stage so much and my phone camera wouldn’t cooperate as I tried to get pictures. Pat holding out the microphone for us to sing.

My trainette t-shirt. The had was an event hat they gave out to attendees.

The band was very nice and Pat even announced to the crowd that they would be around hanging out after the show. During the show he even took people’s cameras and took pictures of himself with them.

After the show we made our way to Pete Wentz DJ Booth that was propped up on scaffolding high above the crowd. After his portion he only did a couple pictures before security escorted him away. I was able to get a picture and thank him for coming out.

I was happy to get to do some new things on this trip to Vegas. I hope next time to see the Bellagio fountain show. Three trips to Vegas and I’ve yet to see the show. Also, there are other restaurants I am excited to try. Rob and I hope to be back later this year so we will check off some more items on the Vegas list. 🙂

This week has been a lot of recovering from sickness. I started to feel like crap on Wednesday. I rarely get sick so I was hoping it was just a funk that I would have to tolerate, but nothing more than that. However, during the day I just started feeling worse and worse.

Wednesday night was the Ride The Wave group run. When I got to the meeting location I found out the other group leader would not be joining us. I would have the group of about eight people to pace by myself. It’s better to have at least two leaders so that if the group gets spread out on pace. No worries, we headed out. The weather wasn’t stellar. There was a light rain, cold and bit of wind. I kept my feelings about my health to myself. No reason to bring it up because the group just needed to focus on getting in their run of 5 miles tempo as planned. It was a good time running with the group and talking about races, but after we finished I felt worse. I fell asleep early that night only woke up now and then and was quickly reminded how badly I felt.

Thursday morning I worked from home and made my way the doctor. I couldn’t let this feeling ride out, I was beyond just a little funk. I needed some big gun meds. I got a Zpack and had to get into work for some meetings that I would not be able to miss. I was a walking zombie at best and my energy level drained quickly. I ended up heading home early for an offical sick day and slept as much as possible.

I was woken up to Rob bringing me roses and dark chocolates, really that is better than the Zpack!

Chocolates not pictured, they were in my tummy in less than a second. 😉

I passed out hard Thursday night. Today I woke up feeling much better, but my throat felt incredibly raw. I didn’t want to risk running out in the cold air so I ran on our new treadmill. I did an easy run on the San Diego Half Marathon course. It was nice to enjoy pictures of palm trees and I felt good. Afterward I went to yoga and had a great session there. Every passing hour I was feeling better.

The weather was great for flying so Rob and I took a quick flight around the area.

I made a flying playlist for the flight. We enjoyed tunes like “Up” from Jason Mraz. 🙂

A view of our company’s south campus. I have to say it’s nice to have Fridays off and fly over. Fridays free are when the longer hours Monday through Thursday pay off.

I also got to try out my new Bose headset on this flight. I got Rob one for his 30th birthday and he has loved having it. He found one for sale from another pilot and so he got it for me. It is in perfect condition and works great!

Tonight I did another easy run on the treadmill. My plan was to do the last half of the Boston Marathon course, but the iFit site was down so I got in a couple miles on the regular until the site was back up. I felt like I was running in sand. My energy is definitely zapped and my stomach feels sour. I’m definitely ready to pass out again and hope to wake up tomorrow feeling better.

Monday was a planned rest day from running, but not even close to a restful day. We had tickets to the House of Blues Chicago to see MIGGS, Parachute, and Plain White T’s. I bought the tickets awhile ago and didn’t notice that the date was a Monday, whoops! Unfortunately work couldn’t wait so we weren’t able to take a day off. We did leave work early, but Rob attended a conference call the whole 2 hour drive. When we got into Chicago my heart burst just like every time we visit. I feel so at home in Chicago. I never want to leave.

Since we didn’t get out of work early enough we didn’t get time for dinner and it was already time for the show to start. We hung in the back for this show, no need to fight the crowd.

The show was great!! MIGGS did an amazing job! I even got my picture taken after their set with the lead singer, Don Miggs.

Parachute and Plain White T’s also put on an amazing show. Parachute played songs from their new album that just released, it was really good! This was the last stop on their tour and they all really rocked it. It was the best type of rest. A little weekday fun to mix up our regular routine.